An Electronic Decision Support System for Smoking Cessation

Researchers at the former Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center collaborated with Thresholds Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centers in Chicago to create an easy-to-use, web-based, motivational electronic decision support system (EDSS) tailored for smokers in mental health recovery. The EDSS includes individualized feedback about lung damage due to smoking from a breath carbon monoxide (CO2) monitor, which measures the amount of toxic particles in a person’s breath. This feedback is thought to motivate users by personalizing the health risks of smoking. But the carbon monoxide monitor is an expensive machine that is not commonly available in community mental health settings, which acts as a barrier to broad implementation.

This study found that a web-based intervention which applies a personalized health checklist is as effective in motivating an intention to initiate smoking cessation treatment as is a CO2 monitor. The EDSS has the potential to reach more people with mental illnesses and increase their motivation to quit smoking at a lower cost.